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GPSS OKs new budget for fiscal year 2016

Campus

By Matthew.Rezab @iowastatedaily.com The Graduate and Professional Student Senate overwhelmingly passed the proposed $165,600 budget for fiscal year 2016. The new budget represents a $14,100 increase from fiscal year 2015. The extra funds are expected to be available because of the continually rising enrollment. GPSS is largely funded by student fees. The budget allocations run from July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2016. With a projected income of $171,00, the budget proposal does leave officers and the senate some breathing room if unexpected expenses arise. An extra $3,000 each semester was made available for the Professional Advancement Grant program, along with an extra $4,000 being set aside to fund a proposed graduate student career fair. The budget to fund guest speakers and lecturers was also raised from $1,500 to $2,000 for the year. “With greater student fee reciepts, we can fund more Professional Advancement Grants, better social events and new line items,” said GPSS Treasurer T.J. Ratikan. Government of the Student Body presidential hopefuls Dan Breitbarth and Amanda Lewis had an opportunity to briefly lay out their platforms to the GPSS senators. VEISHEA and overcrowding on campus was a hot topic for each candidate. Both advocate bringing some form of VEISHEA back to Iowa State. Breitbarth advocated for a parade, while Lewis suggested moving the event to the fall semester before students are done with Spring Break and midterms and “ready to let loose.” “We want to bring back the traditions in a new way,” Lewis said. Students can vote March 3 and 4, by going to the ISU website. Clubs and organizations looking to procure funds from GPSS’s regular allocation fund can now receive up to $1,000. If they already received the $800 limit this year, the club is eligible for $200 during the spring semester. “Overall, we want to promote clubs to generate opportunity for them that wouldn’t otherwise be

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ISU Research Park continues to expand in unfamiliar territory By Eric.Wirth @iowastatedaily.com

Research Park

Eric F ields/

Iowa

State Dail

ituated just south of U.S. Highway 30 in Ames sits a cluster of buildings where companies perform cutting-edge research, but the park is relatively unknown to students. The ISU Research Park, which was founded in 1987, is a private, non-for-profit, endeavor affiliated with Iowa State. The park is home to companies such as Vermeer, NewLink Genetics, and Workiva, which was formerly known as WebFilings. “The biggest requirement is a relationship with Iowa State,” said Alison Doyle, marketing manager for the ISU Research Park in reference to companies looking to house their operations within the park. All the companies housed at the research park are in one way or another working with Iowa State, Doyle said. This could mean they are hiring students as part-time staff, pulling interns from ISU’s student base or working with different departments on campus. The Re-

Map courtesy of ISU Facilities Planning & Management

The ISU Research Park is located just south of U.S. Highway 30 in Ames. The research park is home to multiple different companies, such as Vermeer, NewLink Genetics and Workiva, which was previously known as WebFilings.

search Park currently has 1,365 employees Doyle said, however, that number is projected to grow. “We expect that in 10 years the employment base will expand to 6,000,” said Dr. Michael Crum, vice president for Economic Development and Business Engagement and chairman of the ISU Research Park Corporation. Due to the expected increase in employment, the park is currently in an expansion phase. Doyle said the park is adding 200 acres of development to its already sizable 200-acre swath of developed land. The park houses about 60 tenants in nine buildings, seven of which are owned by the research park, while the other two are owned by private businesses. Of the 60 tenants, one of the more widely known is Workiva, which recently underwent a name change, formerly operating under the name WebFilings. Workiva is well known for Wdesk,

a platform operating in the cloud that allows companies and other enterprises to manage and analyze business data in real time. “Workiva is a workplace of the future,” Doyle said, noting that the company houses an inhouse chef, as well as a gymnasium for employees. Of Workiva employees, about 50 per year are ISU student interns, according to a Workiva spokesperson. “Many of these interns go on to become full-time Workiva employees,” the spokesperson said. Andrew Herrick was one such intern. “In the fall of 2009 I was taking an accounting information systems class at Iowa State ... and Workiva was looking for interns,” Herrick said. Herrick responded and was working as an intern for Workiva within a month.

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ISU leaders share state-affecting Students differentiate projects to lawmakers at Capitol between terrorism, Islam By Adam.Sodder @iowastatedaily.com

By Makayla.Tendall @iowastatedaily.com Administrators and leaders at Iowa State had the chance to speak to lawmakers at ISU Day at the Capitol on Monday about issues regarding the university and its progress. ISU Day at the Capitol is an annual event coordinated by the Iowa State University President’s Office. The focus of the day is to show lawmakers and lobbyists about how projects the university works on affects the state of Iowa. Among the attendees were Government of the Student Body President Hillary Kletscher and Vice President Mike Hoefer. The Government of the Student Body has a booth at the event each year. Kletscher said her role as president of the GSB is to act as a representative for all students, talking to lawmakers about the issues that students face as they attend one of Iowa’s regent universities. Kletscher also said the event is a great way to tell lawmakers about the student expe-

Courtesy of Hillary Kletscher

ISU President Steven Leath and Government of the Student Body President Hillary Kletscher met with Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad at the Iowa State Capitol on Feb. 23.

rience at Iowa State and how the GSB has worked to enhance that experience. “Also it’s a great opportunity for us to show hands-on how Iowa State can enhance life in the state of Iowa,” Kletscher said. ISU attendees also focus on how the university may benefit the state as a whole. The Office of Admissions shows how many students attend Iowa State from each county, how many students stay in the state after graduating and how much progress is made in fields such as agriculture that

play a large role in the state’s economy. Kletscher said students need to realize the role Iowa lawmakers play in their education. “I think one of the most important things for students to know is what they’re learning every day and experiencing every day at Iowa State is funded and supported by the state of Iowa,” Kletscher said. “The state of Iowa wants Iowa State to be a key player in the economic development of Iowa and the development of educated minds.”

For some ISU students, ISIS isn’t just an acronym. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, the Islamist militant group that seized a chunk of land stretching from northern Syria to central Iraq commonly referred to as ISIS, has become a household name. Some students at Iowa State are concerned with political rhetoric on the MiddleEastern terrorist group. For the past couple of months, ISIS has made news headlines, and their actions, which include the beheadings of foreign journalists, beheadings of Christians and recently, a video of Kurdish Peshmerga fighters paraded down Iraqi streets in cages, though the video’s authenticity has not been confirmed, have prompted the Obama Administration to take action against the group. The rhetoric surrounding the U.S. conflict against ISIS has been calculated and carefully worded. President Obama has refused to call the conflict a war on radical Islam.

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“They are not religious leaders, they’re terrorists,” Obama said at the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday, per NBCnews. com. Obama went on to explain how the U.S. is not “at war with Islam, we are at war with people who have perverted Islam.” The president has been criticized for his responses concerning ISIS. In response, Republican Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has criticized Obama for not referring to ISIS as Islamic terrorists, according to foxnews.com. “The terror of radical Islam, the assassination of journalists, the beheading and burning alive of captives” are the problems concerning ISIS, Jindal said, who used the word “Islam” when describing the threat of ISIS. At a Chapel Hill shooting tribute event on Friday, about 40 students, many of Islamic faith, gathered south of the Campanile. When these students were asked about Obama’s words on ISIS and the U.S. policy concerning the group, several students had responses. “What I believe is that it’s not a war on Islam,” said Zaynab

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